Spring’s chainsaw time;
Each year bottlebrush’s limbs
Brutally sacked,
Savagely hacked.
By Summer time
New growth’s dense
Chance to recover’s immense.
Why have trees near power lines?
Related post
Man Meets Nature
Australia
Crepe Myrtle
Thanks to Adventures and Musings of a Hedgewitch I now know the name of the fantastic flowering trees that bring colour to our home suburb. What coincidences that the inspiration for Peace at Home is the shadow of a Crepe Myrtle tree in Winter and that I read about them for first time in Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches based in New Orleans!
The intensity of the sunshine in the pictures gives you a hint of the difference in temperature we experience in Sydney in June compared to January.
Freedom for the few
Our rights need to earn,
But no bra to burn!
What’s liberating,
Without berating?
Just one public kiss,
A moment of bliss.
Walking hand in hand
Throughout the land,
Swimming in the nude,
It’s natural not lewd.
Equal’s just too much;
Politics and such.
Viva le revolution
The gay marriage solution!
(c) Robert Jones 2014, All Rights Reserved
Gift keeps on giving
Quite soon after moving to Sydney a friend gave us a dracaena, it is hardy, easy to grow and prune. The large black plastic pot it came in also had begonias and this succulent. It sends out runners with long fleshy, serrated, elliptic shaped leaves and tall spikes with delicate looking pink bell shaped flowers.
Flapjack furore
I like that flapjack succulents are easy to grow from cuttings, their sculptural appearance and their colours which intensifies in direct sunlight.
Jewel Bugs
When I first spotted these lustrous beetles going about there business on a tree trunk I thought they might be Christmas beetles. A bit of google research revealed their true identity.
According to the Queensland Museum website they are commonly known as jewel bugs. This particular species is the Hibiscus Harlequin Bug (tectocoris diophthalmus).
Females lay clusters of eggs around twigs and guard them until they hatch. The nymphs are often a different colour to the adults. The Hibiscus Harlequin Bug is found in coastal dunes, rainforest, open forest and gardens in northern and eastern Australia, New Guinea and some Pacific islands.
Length about 15 mm. The body is rounded and convex. Its colour varies, from pale orange to heavily patterned with metallic green, blue and red.
Cool shadow
When the Sun starts its journey from directly overhead towards its setting in the west it is a challenge to find shade walking from Circular Quay to Bennelong Point, Sydney, NSW, Australia. The light was so bright on this day that I hadn’t realised that I’d chopped the front of the Carnival Spirit cruise ship off until I got home. Even so I achieved my objective of capturing the cool water bound shadow of the ship.
The appearance of the jet boat in the photograph is a pleasant accident.
NYE Sydney Harbour 2013
As the years sail by the New Year’s Eve celebrations and more importantly the fireworks over Sydney Harbour evolve, adapt and change. We have been fortunate to experience the show from a yacht in the Harbour in 1998 and from the roof of the old casino on one of the Welsh Bay wharves in 1999. Since then we have seen them up close next to the Opera House and in the distance from apartments in Kings Cross.
Over the last few years we have opted for an inner west dinner followed by viewing from about 5km away, a deliberate choice to avoid the crowds. We usually record the televised coverage of the event to watch on New Year’s Day.
This year we popped over to the Opera House after lunch on Monday 30 December. The pictures capture a glimpse of the pre-Eve excitement and some of the crowd control measures being used.
The fireworks shows have increased from two to three this year, the following information is from the official website City of Sydney information
9 pm Family Fireworks Display
10:30 pm Telstra Design-A-Firework Show
12 Midnight Fireworks Display
Happy New Year!
Sabre Ficus
While enjoying the sunshine on the deck yesterday I noticed the way the light illuminated the various leaf colours of the Sabre or long leaf Ficus. I eagerly collected my camera so that I could capture the moment.
After a couple of close up shots I realised that the camera angle was all wrong. I returned to where I had been sitting on the day bed and took the picture from there.
Hey presto I am able to share the dark green to salmon pink scene with you.
Sturdy, bright, cheerful
I often see these sturdy flowers in parks, next to foot paths and in gardens.
Even when the skies are grey the flowers appear bright.
Like so many tiny suns I find them cheerful as if they light up the Earth.
theINFP 